Ventilator



May 7, 1940.

G.' R. slEFKEN VENTILATOR vFilled April 17, 1939 2 vSheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS G. R. sl'EFKEN May 7, 1940.

vENTILAToR Filed April 17, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORN EY5 Patented May 7, 1940 UNITED STATES lPATENT OFFICE l VENTILATOR George R, lSiefken, New York, N. Y. Application April 17, 1939, serial Noizsazlz s claims. v(c1. ysas- 95) This invention relates to Ventilating apparatus for use in homes, oflice buildings, and other similar structures and is more particularly concerned with a novel device by Which atmospheric air may be admitted to the structure in automatically regulated amounts and distributed in such a way as to promote circulation Within a room, but without development of drafts. These effects are obtained by controlling the entering air stream and causing it to be diffused, so that the course taken by the air is that naturally resulting from the manner of admission and influence of gravity upon it.

This application is a continuation-impart of my copending application Ser. No. 150,915, filed June 29, 1937. f

The new ventilator is especially adapted for installation in an ordinary window frame without the necessity of alterations, although in new structures, it may be built into the wall as a permanent feature. In either case, it is preferably disposed above a heater, such as a radiator, so that in cold weather, the incoming air vstream and the current of air rising from the radiator may be intermingled and properly diffused and distributed.

The apparatus of the invention includes a housing having an inlet opening, through which outside air may enter, and the opening preferably extends substantially the full length of the housing and admits the air in a generally horizontal direction after which the air turns and llows upwardly into the room through orifices' controlled by differentially weighted `valve members. As variations in the velocity of the outside air occur, the stream entering the housing causes more or less of the valve members to be held against their seats in closed position andthe amount of air admitted into the room is-thus automatically con-v trolled. The valves are preferably arranged in a group consisting of two rows and the ends of the rows are spaced inwardly from the ends of the housing so that the stream'sissue from the valves inwardly from the side members of the window frame, when the device is mounted in the frame or built into the wall below the frame. Above the valve openings is a deflector which is longer and wider than the group of valves and may be tilted to different positions in which it engages the housing either forwardly or to the rear of the group of valves. In thefirst position, the enter` ing air stream is caused to flow upwardly along the wall or Window pane and thisadjustment is employed in air from the radiator blanketsv the cold air enterwinter so that therising stream of ing. As the cold air tends to turn and-flow downwardly under the force of gravity, it is intermingled with the rising stream of warm air, and cold drafts are thus prevented. In the summer,

when the window pane is warm because of being heated, for example, by the sun, the deflector is turned' to the second position in which the entering air is directed away from the pane and into the room so that the cooler outside air may not be heated by its travel along the warm pane.

In the group of` valves, the weighting used is such that with low wind velocities, for example, up to four miles an hour, all of the valves are open. As the velocity increases, the valves are successively closed until ultimately only one or two valves may be' open. The high velocity air enters the room through these valve openings somewhat in the nature of jets and proper diffusion is more diicult than in the case of the low velocity streams. Accordingly, to insure such diffusion, the` valves areso arranged'that those of the heaviest weighting lie in the middle of the group, with the heaviest valves preferably lying in the row farther from the window. With this. arrangement, a relatively high velocity air current entering the room strikes the middle of the deflector and is directed against the middle of the window-pane. The air is thus directed in a stream located inwardly Afrom the edges of the current of hot air rising from the radiator and cannot escape at the edges of the hot stream and turn directly downwardly into the room. Instead, vit rises with the hot current a distance depending upon the voutside wind velocity and thus becomes thoroughly intermingled with and diffused through the hot air. Drafts are, accordingly, prevented. I

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which l Fig. l is a front elevational view of one form of the apparatus, with parts broken away;

Fig, 2 is a transverse sectional view of the apy I4 at the rear, the chamber being preferably rectangular and extending across the sill the entire width f the window. In some cases, it may be advantageous to provide cooling coils I5 in the intake chamber, to cool the incoming air and, if f desired, a filtering screen I6 may be installed in the chamber so that the air entering the chamber will nass through it and be filtered before entering the room. The screen I6, as shown, includes a fabric I1 stretched over rods I8 Within a metal frame I9, the frame being mounted 'to slide into and out of the chamber in the manner of a tray so that it may be easily removed. through one end of the housing for cleaning. Along its front edge, the frame I9 bears against a felt pad 2B secured to the housing, and at the rear, the frame is engaged on top by another felt pad 2l which is held between the double .walls 22 of the housing and projects outwardly beyond the edges of the walls.

In order to prevent entrance of air through the Window above the device, a flexible rubber lo-op 23 extending the width of the device is mounted on the top thereof to project out to .the rear, and when the sash is raised, the loop hears against the sash, so that air cannot enter the room except through the device. The loop 23 may be secured to the housing by a releasable clamp 24, so thatit may be readily replaced when worn.

The top 26 of the housing has a group of openings 2 through which air from the intake chamber passes into the room and these openings preferably lie outwardly from the end walls of the housing so that the current of air entering the housing converges before passing through the openings. 'Ihe quantity of air passing through the openings is controlled by automatic mechanisrn which, as illustrated, includes a series of valves 28 fitting into the openings which are arranged in two rows lengthwise of the housing. Each valve is in the form of a truncated cone, with its smaller diameter at the top, and it is mounted for movement on a vertical stem 29 projecting upwardly through the corresponding opening, the stems being supported on bars30 attached to thel housing end walls. The valves are of light weight sothat they may be raised to close the openings Z'I by air entering the chamber I3. and the weighting is differential so that when the pressure of the entering air increases, the valves Will be closed in succession, and as the pressure of the air decreases more and more valves will open. In this way, the air entering the room is automatically regulated in amount, regardless of outside wind conditions. The valves seat against the edge 2l" of the openings ina layer'of felt 26' which is held between double walls forming the top 26.

The weighting of the valves 28 is such as to provide the incoming air with a predetermined flow characteristic to be described, and to this end I prefer to arrange the valves as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. As there shown, the valves of diierent weights are designated by different numbers from 1 to 6, the weights increasing as the numbers increase. It will be observed that the valves in each row or series offer progressively greater and then less resistance to closing from one end of the series to the other, since the heaviest'valves are near the middle of the series. Also, the heaviest valves are in the series which is farther from the window. As a result, 'air streams of the higher velocities enter .that cold drafts may be prevented, and provision must be made to prevent the cold air from iiowing directly to the lower levels of the room. Accordingly, the ventilator is preferably placed above a radiator and the entering air flowing upwardly from the valves is caused to be blanketed by the warm air current rising from the radiator. In this way, the heavier cold `air cannot turn and flow ldownwardly except through the rising warm air, and diffusion and thorough intermingling of the fresh air from the outside` and the air within the room are thereby accomplished. When the weather is warm, the window pane may be highly heated by the sun shining directly upon it and, in that situation, the entering air should be kept away from the window sothatit will not be warmed'by heat from the glass.

To control the flow of the entering air, the ventilator is provided with a deflector 33 mounted on horizontal pivots on upright members 34 attached to the top 26 of the housing beyond the ends of the group of openings 21. flector, which may be formed of a plate stiffened by a rib 35, extends substantially the whole width of the apparatus and may be operated to The dedeect the air issuing from the openings 21 either along the window or away from it, as desired.

In the operation of the apparatus illustrated, the current of atmospheric air entering the intake chamber converges` as it approaches the openings 21 and flows upwardly and into the room in controlled amounts through the valves. 'I'he air issuing from the openings strikes. the deflector and the several streams are spread vout laterally and intermingled so that the fresh air Iiows into the room in a thin, wide stream. When the weather is cold, the deiiector is placed in the position illustrated in Fig. 2, in which position it directs the fresh air stream upwardly along the window. The rising .current 'of hot air from the radiator then flows upwardly on the When the outside wind velocityA is relatively high, the entering air is admitted through the ventilator inwardly from the edges of the blanketing current of hot air and cannot escape at the sides. It thus flows upwardly to a substantial height in contact with the current of heated air, the height t0 which the entering air rises depending on the outside velocity. The streams 0f greatest velocity are those most thoroughly blanketed, this result following from-the central position of the valve openings through which such streams are admitted. Such high velocity streams are also kept from contact with the window frames which, in the case of modern buildings, are frequently made of metal and are quite cold in the winter time. k

When the Weather is warm and the sun is shining upon the window and has heated the glass, it is desirable to keepthe fresh entering air from coming .in contact with the window pane so that it will not be heated by the hot glass. For `this purpose, the deiiector is tipped to the ling an opening for dotted-line position shown in Fig. 2 and when so placed, the defiector directs the entering air into the room away Vfrom the window.

I claim: Y

l. A ventilator for admitting air into a room over a heater comprising an intake chamber havadmitting air from outside, means for controlling the passage of air from the intake chamber to the room including a series of valve members serially movable to closed positions by increased velocity of the air admitted from outside, the valve members at the ends of the series being movable to closed positions by a smaller velocity of air than those between the ends of the/series, whereby said members are operable to cause a stream of air issuing into the room to fan out with the greatest rate at the middle portion of the stream.

2. A ventilator for admitting air into a room over a heater comprising an intake chamber having an opening for admitting air from outside, means for controlling the passage of air from the intake chamber to the room including ar serles of valve members movable toward closed positions by air admitted from the outside, the valves offering progressively greater resistance to closing from each end toward the center of the series, whereby said members are operable to cause a stream of air issuing into the room to fan out with the greatest rate of flow at the middle portion of the stream.

K 3. A ventilator for admitting air into a room over a heater comprising a housing disposed adjacent a wall of the room and having an intake chamber with an opening for admitting air from outside, means for controlling the passage of air from the intake chamber to the room including valve members arranged in two transversely spaced series generally parallel to the wall and f to closed positions by increased air admittedv from outside, the valve members at the ends of each series being movable to closed positions by a smaller velocity of air than those between the ends of the series, and at least one of the valve members in the series at the greater distance from the wall offering greater resistance to vclosing than any of the valves in the other series. y

4. A ventilator for admitting air into a room over a heater comprising an intake chamber having an opening for admitting air from outside,

serially movable velocity of the of iiow means for controlling the passage of air from the intake chamber to the room including aseries of valve members serially movable to closed positions by increased velocity of the air admitted from outside, the valve members at the ends of the series being movable to closed positions by a smaller velocity of air than those between the ends of the series, and a deflector in the path of the air issuing from the valves for spreading out and directing the `flow of air into the room.

5. A ventilator for admitting air into a room over a heater comprising a housing disposed adjacent a wall of the room and containing an intake chamber having a generally horizontal, elon'- gated opening extending substantially the entire length of the housing for admitting air from` the outside, means for controlling the passage of air from the intake chamber to the room including a series of valve members serially movable to closed positions as the velocity of the air admitted from the outside increases, said control means also including outlet means arranged along the top of the housing generally parallel to said L wall and spaced inwardly from the ends of the housing to cause opening to converge before passing through the outlet means, and a controllable delector in the path of air issuing from said outlet means, the

defiector extending beyond the ends of the outlet means and being operable to spread out and l direct the ilow of air into the room.

6. A ventilator for admitting air into a room over a heater comprising a housing disposed adjacent a wall of the room and having an intake chamber with an opening for admitting air from the current of air entering said the outside, means for controlling the passage of v air from the intake chamber tothe room including a series of valve members serially movable to closed positions as the velocity of the air admitted from the outside increases, and adeiiector pivoted in the path of air passing through the valves into the room and having deiiector portions extending on each side of its axis, the deflector being movable to different positions substantially into engagement with the front and' back of the housing, respectively, to form with the housing an elongated opening to direct air issuing from the valveseither along said wall `or away from the wall.

. GEORGE R. SIEFKEN. 

